WWE Continues to Swerve Fans with Brock Lesnar's Greatest Royal Rumble Win

Brock Lesnar escaped with the Universal Championship in hand at WWE Greatest Royal Rumble to once more stamp out the coronation fans keep anticipating. 

WWE's big event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday went as one might expect for the most part. There were no big title changes. The monstrous Braun Strowman was the last man standing at the 50-man Royal Rumble match's conclusion. Undertaker took care of business against Rusev.

The Universal Championship bout, though, offered a curveball.

Roman Reigns did not end the night with the title in his grip, as WWE seemed to foreshadow. Just like at WrestleMania, Lesnar held on thanks to a surprising win.

Ahead of that main event bout earlier in April, word of Lesnar's expiring contract and his desire to give UFC another go had many believing The Beast Incarnate's time with WWE was done. The company had built up the powerhouse in a big way as well. Lesnar beat everyone, with the F-5 knocking down monster after monster.

It all felt like WWE was setting up the pins for Reigns to hit a grand strike at The Show of Shows.

When Lesnar won in New Orleans instead, one assumed it was just a means to delay things. Perhaps WWE wanted Reigns' celebration to come in front of a more favorable crowd. So we collectively saw The Big Dog winning gold at the Greatest Royal Rumble when we glanced at our crystal balls.

Forbes columnist Blake Oestriecher spelled out five reasons why we should have expected The Big Dog to win Friday. Brian Campbell and Adam Silverstein of CBSSports.com predicted victory for Reigns. In my Greatest Royal Rumble preview on B/R, I picked Reigns too.

We were all wrong. The Lesnar Era rolled on.

The challenger had The Conqueror reeling. He pinned him against the cage wall and barrelled toward him to land the final blow. Reigns speared Lesnar through the cage, and both men tumbled out on to the floor.

The referee declared that Lesnar hit the floor first, and the champion retained the title as a result.

The part-timer is still king. Lesnar has held the Universal Championship since last year's WrestleMania. Every frustration fans have about him as champ, including his rarely around status, will continue to have fuel.

Now what?

Will WWE drag on Reigns' pursuit of Lesnar into SummerSlam or beyond? Could the company be that tone deaf as to book a fourth title match between them despite the lack of spark surrounding their most recent two?

Miami Herald writer Scott Fishman is not the only one asking whether we can put an end to this feud:

Reigns has two straight losses to The Beast Incarnate. He fell to Lesnar in a Fatal 4-Way last summer as well. It makes no sense from a kayfabe standpoint that he would remain the No. 1 contender.

The confusion surrounding whether Lesnar's feet touched the ground in Friday's steel cage clash, though, could be a means to keep The Shield's former muscle in the title hunt.

A new challenger makes more sense in order to bring some freshness to the Universal Championship scene, but the list of men WWE would believe in enough to take down Lesnar is mighty short. Bobby Lashley is a long shot despite his MMA and amateur wrestling experience. Finn Balor is likely too small in WWE chief Vince McMahon's eyes.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet brought up the idea of The Monster of Men snatching the belt from Lesnar:

Strowman makes sense on a number of levels. For one, he's fresh off winning Friday's 50-man Royal Rumble, essentially won the Raw Tag Team Championships by himself at WrestleMania and has victories over the likes of Reigns, Seth Rollins and The Miztourage.

He's also one of the rare human beings who makes Lesnar the physical underdog.

Strowman remains one of WWE's hottest commodities too. It doesn't matter whether he's plowing through the competition in a Battle Royal or crushing a man with a double bass, the audience always seems abuzz for him.

It's easy to imagine him supplanting Lesnar as The Guy when the time comes, but it's not smart to get one's hopes up. Every time it seems someone is going to shove The Beast Incarnate out of his throne, WWE scripts a quite different ending.